this weekend will be the third year I'm going to brew a beer with fresh hops, picked just hours earlier. Last year it became a big mess because the drain valve got clogged with the fresh hops. After several attempts to unclog the valve, I ended up putting a sieve on my fermenter and dunking the contents of the BM in the fermenter.

For this year my idea is to use the malt pipe as a giant sieve. When the boil is complete i'll put the malt pipe and the bottom filter plates back in their place and add the fresh hops for a hop stand. When done, remove the malt pipe and chill as normal.

Anyone have any suggestions or experience brewing with fresh hops? Any reason why I shouldn't use the malt pipe at these temps?? Happy to hear from you all.

So far, I had only once the opportunity to get wet hops delivered in the recommended timeframe.As a hop sieve I am using one of those Arbor Filter for Speidel Braumeister.They just work marvellous, with wet-hops, dry-cone-hops, or pellet-hops.http://arborfab.com/Filter-for-Speidel- ... _p_21.htmlThe final beer was unbelievable delicious.

Result, I have planted a few Cascade Hop Vines in my backyard.

Using the Braumeister Malt Pipe as a hop-stand might not work as intended ?Without running the pump the hops might not get agitated enough.Running the pump before or after boiling you need a lid filter, otherwise the hopwill end up in the kettle anyway. Hope, I understand your technique correctly ?

Imo this is not about fresh hops, it's about leaf hops. Fresh from the garden or from the HBS.

The malt pipe doesn't work at all well.

You need a hop spider. I have tried all manner of contraptions. The Mangrove Jack 800 micron fits well in the BM20, is good at its job, cleans up well and is not a fortune. No this is not a sponsered post.

PS when I tried it, fresh hops are better dried out in the sun a bit. It concentrates the flavours and removes the green veg taste. Be careful with fresh, too fresh & your beer might taste of cabbage.

I've got my first harvest of Cascade and Fuggles coming up. The Fuggles don't look great, but Cascade look plentiful. How much did you use in a fresh hop brew? I've read you need to use 5-8 times the usual dried weight for the same AA% due to the increased moisture content. Any tips? I'm planning a Sierra Nevada Celebration-a-like beer.

There is a beer tent in the Dane John Gardens as part of the Canterbury food and drink festival which has green hop beers from every brewery in Kent that brews one. I think there is some meet the brewer stuff this year. It is a great day out, super beer and great food.

Nolan wrote:So far, I had only once the opportunity to get wet hops delivered in the recommended timeframe.As a hop sieve I am using one of those Arbor Filter for Speidel Braumeister.

The Arbor Filter would be the best solution! However it won't be here in Amsterdam on time unfortunately, I'm brewing this weekend. My plan to use the malt pipe for a hop stand is indeed without the pump, so no need for lid filter, because the majority of the boiled wort will be inside the malt pipe. A bit of stirring and maybe lifting the malt pipe to stir the wort and putting it back in it's place should agitate the hops enough. Last year I inspected some of the hops after boiling and the lupulin was still in some of the hop cones.

mashy wrote:You need a hop spider. I have tried all manner of contraptions. The Mangrove Jack 800 micron fits well in the BM20, is good at its job, cleans up well and is not a fortune. No this is not a sponsered post.

I actually have a hop spider but the amount of whole hop cones won't fit... hence my idea to use the malt pipe. My plan for next year is to dry the hops and use them throughout the year.

grooves wrote:I've got my first harvest of Cascade and Fuggles coming up. The Fuggles don't look great, but Cascade look plentiful. How much did you use in a fresh hop brew? I've read you need to use 5-8 times the usual dried weight for the same AA% due to the increased moisture content. Any tips? I'm planning a Sierra Nevada Celebration-a-like beer.

The hops I use are wild and of unknown lineage so no clue about AA%. Last year I used a bit of Saaz at the beginning of the boil to get a reliable IBU figure and 10 times the dried weight amount (read that somewhere) for aroma, but the aroma wasn't as good as the year before, so this year taking my time with leaving the hops in the kettle for a while. My advice: don't toss in the whole hop cones with out a filter of some sort! When are you brewing? I'll post an update of my adventures this weekend.

Newly harvested Cascade 210g - so enough for a brew. Unfortunately I'm not organised enough to have the grain ready - so no fresh hop beer this year. I'm lining up a pale ale with these when they have dried out.